From the Associated Press, [Raleigh] News & Observer:

North Carolina unveiled a roadside marker yesterday documenting the state’s decades-long eugenics program, which was  intended to keep thousands of people considered mentally disabled or otherwise genetically inferior from having children.

“This does represent one of the ugly chapters in North Carolina’s history,” said the Rev. William Barber, president of the state chapter of the NAACP. “We have to deal with our past in order to have a better present and a stronger future.”

Elaine Riddick, 55, (above) was among 7,600 people involuntarily sterilized by the state between 1933 and 1973. “The sign means a lot,” she said after a drape was pulled down to reveal the aluminum monument, “because it shows that someone recognizes the wrong.”

The text of the historic marker is here.

Earlier posts start here.

UPDATE:

See also: ‘Sigificant, bizarre, shameful’ — [Raleigh] News & Observer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 1:57 pm and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, history, intellectual/developmental disabilities, sterilization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.